Just Slow Down

This is post #2 for my Nutrition class and my second time listening to the Body Love podcast with Jessi Haggerty.  

  

For this assignment I chose to listen to Episode 045 with guest Dr. Laura Douglass https://www.jessihaggerty.com/blog/blp46  

  

This episode was particularly interesting, and talked a lot about presence in the body, and taking time to really understand the meaning behind the body and what it is trying to tell you as a human being.  

  

I was particularly drawn to this episode because of some of the experiences I have personally had with my own body that have given me an additional perspective into this subject.  

  

As a writer for The Utah Statesman, my team and I had an opportunity to visit the energy healer Spencer Watson at the Millennial Wellness studio a year ago this month. A link to my experiences is shared here. http://usustatesman.com/body-talk-body-experience/ 

  

Dr. Laura Douglass talks about how she works professionally with students and veterans in a positive learning environment, and how important it is to slow down and listen to the body in the moment with them.  

She talks about how all learning happens in the body, and the neuro-chemicals and feelings that occur in the brain. She talks about the neuro-connections that are made in the learning process, and how the body's functional movements and connections to things in the world. She mentions that experiences happen in the body first. She said that it is super important to take a step back and learn how to care for ourselves and what our bodies need in the ever-increasingly busy world we live in, and finding things to help individuals do that.  

Douglass expresses that a lot of the mindfulness we should be seeking can be found by first finding ways to trust in our bodies. This often leads to an existential way of thinking, in connection with religion or even yoga. I connected well to the connection of religion, because I am a religious person. She talks about how she has had to tell a lot of people that "they are just fine just the way they are."  

Being happy with our bodies starts with being happy and finding a way to be content where we are right now, knowing that this life is extremely fragile and won't be where we will stay forever. 

I loved that Douglass expressed that mindfulness is an entrance to the soul, and that we are our bodies. I kind of took this podcast as a hint to find more mindfulness within my own life and learn how to be more present in the moment.  

As a child that comes from a busy family, I know what it's like to be out of touch with my body, because I am someone who is constantly running. Because of this podcast, I want to find ways to personally learn how to be more mindful, and how to find peace within my own body and be more centered.